Now authorities in Europe are taking aim at the automaker for not offering owners of affected Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and SEAT models in Europe the compensation offered to buyers in the U.S., despite the significantly higher number and variety of affected models on its home continent.

Reuters reports that European industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska demanded that CEO Matthias Mueller offer owners of affected models in Europe the same package of funds and services offered to customers in the U.S.

"I would like to ask you to reconsider your stance regarding compensation and reflect on the ways to offer compensation also to the European consumers," Bienkowska wrote to Mueller in a letter seen by reporters from Reuters.

Volkswagen announced this week that it is expanding its Goodwill Package program to owners of 3.0-liter TDI Touareg models, which face a different emissions issue than the 2.0-liter ...

Earlier in the year, Mueller stated that the automaker was planning to compensate all owners of affected vehicles, suggesting by inference that even those owners whose cars did not violate their countries' respective environmental regulations would receive some form of compensation for the loss in value.

"We’re working on an effective package for all our customers," Mueller stated during a VW press conference in December 2015. "There will be an attractive package, let’s call it compensation, for the reduction in value of cars."

Some 8.5 million out of a total of 11 million vehicles with emissions-cheating software produced under the VW, Audi, Skoda and SEAT brands were sold in Europe, though not all are believed to have violated environmental regulations in their respective jurisdictions. The Wolfsburg-based automaker has received approval for a technical fix for almost all affected models in Europe, rolling out a software update as well as a "flow straightener" device weeks ago, though it has not stated if owners of affected models would be compensated monetarily. Volkswagen of Canada has also rolled out an "Owner Credit Package" for owners of affected cars that is virtually identical to that offered in the U.S.

"The issue of compensation goes beyond the difference in the legal set-up between the U.S. and the EU and plays a fundamental role in viewing VW as a responsible and trustworthy company," Bienkowska also stated in the letter addressed to Mueller.